Profile: Nadia Murad

One woman's fight against Islamic State

She escaped from a living hell: Nadia Murad gives a face to the thousands of Yazidi women who were raped by members of IS. She openly tells of her time as a sex slave, her sorrow and her desire to change things. By Sabrina Pabst

Nadia Murad Basee Taha will never forget 15 August 2014. It was on this day that her ordeal began. She would later refer to this a living hell that she managed to survive. Nadia was 19-years-old when her life changed abruptly. Up until then, she had harboured great plans. She was allowed to attend school and wanted to become a history teacher or perhaps even open up her own beauty salon in the small village of 2000 inhabitants where she lived.

Her village lies in Sinjar, a region of northern Iraq populated mostly by Kurdish Yazidis. Many had already fled the village out of deadly fear of the terrorist organisation Islamic State (IS).

Within one hour, more than 300 men, women and children from the village were suddenly torn from Nadia Murad's world. The IS unleashed a bloodbath. Before her very eyes, her six brothers were murdered because they refused to convert to Islam. She was forced to witness how the terrorists murdered her mother. Those who survived the attack were abducted and brought to Mosul, an IS stronghold. Nadia was one of them.

Abducted, raped and enslaved

For three months, she was a prisoner of IS fighters, who in the summer of 2014 had taken large sections of Syria and Iraq, overrunning villages populated by Yazidis, Christians and other non-Muslims. During these three months, Nadia Murad suffered the fate of a sex slave – she was beaten, tortured and raped. It was to be a fate shared by more than 5000 Yazidi women.

United against inhumanity: the case of the tortured Yazidi women has become a cause celebre for lawyer Amal Clooney. Together with Nadia Murad, she is aiming to bring IS before the International Court of Justice

Almost two years later, she was formally appointed UN Goodwill Ambassador for the Dignity of Survivors of Human Trafficking in order to draw attention to the suffering of the estimated 3400 Yazidi women and children still held prisoner by the IS fanatics. UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon said that he was "moved to tears" by the fate of the young woman, as well as by her "strength, courage and dignity."

In a monotone voice and with hardly any visible signs of emotion, the young woman with long brown hair and sad eyes reported to the United Nations about her time in captivity, the indignities she suffered and the unrestrained violence that she and a further 150 Yazidi families were forced to endure. "I was not alone and perhaps I was the luckiest. Over time, I found a way to escape, while many thousands could not. They are still being held prisoner," she said. "I am here in order to represent those who have been taken from us. We cannot bring them back. We will cherish their memory as we continue to fight."

"Thousands of others could not escape"

Some women, she relates, took their own lives out of desperation. Not Nadia. "I did not want to kill myself, but I did want them to kill me," she said in an interview with Time magazine. After three days in captivity, she was given to an IS fighter as a present. He humiliated her and tortured her daily. She was severely punished for her first attempt at escape. She was placed in a room where she was forced to undress. Her guards abused her and she was molested by a number of men until she fell unconscious. After three months of absolute torture, she finally managed to escape. Since then, she has lived in Germany and has been campaigning for the international community to recognise the horrors committed against the Yazidis as genocide.

Between fear and annihilation: Yazidi refugees in Iraq

Thousands of Yazidis were trapped on Mount Sinjar after being forced to flee their homes by Islamic State terrorist militias. Many have fled to Syria; others have remained in Iraq. The US has provided food and water, although Washington no longer sees the need for a rescue mission. Their situation is desperate.

In search of protection: thousands of members of the Yazidi minority have fled an onslaught by the brutal fighters of the Islamic State (IS) terrorist militias. Those who managed to find shelter in a refugee camp in northern Iraq can count themselves lucky. Supplying refugees on Mount Sinjar with food and water is an extremely difficult task. Demands for more assistance from the West are increasing.

Mass exodus: the Yazidis have been almost completely driven out of the areas controlled by the IS jihadists, often with brutal force. Thousands fled to Syria, although some have since returned to Iraq, like here in Fishkhabour on the Iraqi-Syrian border.

Robbed, humiliated and traumatised: all too often, IS militiamen have robbed refugees of their money, valuables and passports. Many have nothing left but the clothes they are wearing. A great number of children have been traumatised by what they have experienced, and at least 500 Yazidis have been killed in the conflict.

Lack of basic necessities: tumult ensued as bottles of water were distributed to families of Yazidi refugees in northern Iraq. The provision of supplies to the refugees in the autonomous Kurdish regions is a massive logistical challenge.

The Red Crescent in action: members of the Kurdish Red Crescent are helping refugees near Mount Sinjar. Many refugees have been injured or are weak from the long journey, which many of them undertook on foot.

The conditions awaiting the Yazidi refugees in northern Iraq are in some cases appalling. According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), a total of one million people all over Iraq have now fled their homes, including Yazidis and many Christians.

A little comfort in a frightening situation: the UN refugee agency UNHCR has set up provisional refugee camps across northern Iraq, including one near the city of Erbil. The refugees are pleased to have at least some fabric walls to call their own and happy to have been able to save a few personal belongings from their homes.

Supplies by helicopter: the US Air Force has been delivering food and water to the Yazidis on Mount Sinjar. The refugees urgently rely on these deliveries as they are otherwise completely cut off from the outside world. Pictured here: US soldiers prepare pallets of water for a humanitarian air drop

A crowd of refugees waited as an Iraqi helicopter came into land on 13 August. A planned large-scale rescue operation by the US army in the region was called off because the Pentagon concluded that there were considerably fewer refugees there than originally feared.

Hunger, thirst and fear for their lives: the UN estimates that some 1,000 people are still stranded on the mountain range. They are suffering from the heat and from a lack of water. There are also unconfirmed reports that IS jihadists have kidnapped around 100 Yazidi women and children from Mount Sinjar.

Women, children and the injured first: aid workers are trying to fly out the injured and the very weak, as well as women and children. Recently, a helicopter crashed during a rescue operation because it was carrying too many passengers.

Criticism of the West for its inaction: across Europe, members of the Yazidi community – including those pictured here in Hanover – are demonstrating for more support from the West. They are calling for more humanitarian aid and for weapons for the Kurds of northern Iraq to help them stop the advance of IS jihadists.

With the support of her lawyer, Amal Alamuddin Clooney, Nadia Murad wants the Islamic State to be brought before the International Court of Justice. On the occasion of the young Yazidi woman being named UN Special Ambassador, Amal Alamuddin said, "I wish I could say that I am proud to be here. Yet, I am not." She finds it shameful that the UN has frequently been unable to prevent genocides or to pursue its perpetrators, as the interests of member countries stand in the way. "As a woman, I am ashamed," continued Amal Alamuddin, at how girls such as Nadia are treated like merchandise and their bodies used as combat zones. "I am ashamed that we have ignored the cries for help."

Nadia Murad – a human rights activist

She continues in her tireless struggle to win allies in the fight against the enslavement of her sisters in faith in northern Iraq by the terrorist militia. Her efforts have led her to travel around the world. She has met with Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi and Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos. "I call upon you to convey my concerns to the European Union, as thousands of women and children are still being held captive," she exclaimed to an audience in Athens.

She has also sought out discussions in Norway and Iraq. After one such meeting, the Norwegian politician Audun Lysbakken even submitted Nadia's name to the Nobel Prize nomination committee. "We would like a peace prize that rouses the world to fight against sexual violence as a weapon of war," he said, justifying his decision.

On account of her fearless commitment, she is still being pursued by the IS and has received death threats. Yet, death has lost its terror for Nadia. "Death is harmless in comparison to the hell that we all had to endure."